Norbury Junction

We had a nice ride over to Staffordshire today to see my old chum Trevor whi lives near Norbury Junction on the canal - an idyllic spot with a Steptoes yard and several old vehicles including this lovely old Daimler that we had a ride in.
Trevor took us on a long walk round the badger sets and through the woods to the nature reserve nearby. The reed beds were full of rare insects he said- I think some were trying to eat me most of the time! The mosquitos and gnats were out in abundance due to all the rain we've been having. We had a good game of throwing the sticky velcro-like buds of some bush at each other whilst walking along. Didn't see any badgers but heard lots of young kites and pigeons squawking in the woods.

Later after a picnic on his boat we had taken along we went for a drive ion his Daimler round the narrow lanes. Creak bump! Clunk creak! I think that spring needs oiling said Trevor.
Stopped off for a pint at the canalside pub. Trevor waved and said hello to nearly everyone we met - he must be in demand round there for his boat painting skills. He was putting the finishing touches to one when we arrived - a long maroon narrowboat with the odd name of "Rubytoo" which made us think of that old Rolling Stones song "Ruby Tuesday".

It seemed quicker getting home- about an hour and a half via Whitchurch and Tarporley. Thankfully the pitter of rain that started in the morning was replaced by bright warm sunshine. This Hazel and Archie having a cuppa ( we took the tea bags and milk ) outside on the poop deck. The furry russian hat curled up on the roof of the boat turned out to be his 16 year old cat "Percy"? or was it "Parsley"?

Watched a great DVD called Science Of Sleep the other evening which I must mention. Its by Michel Gondry who directed the Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind which I didnt like all that much but this is a very charming and inventive film which mixes animation with live action but in a childlike way- full of hand knitted puppets, cardboard cities and cotton wool clouds etc. Hard to describe really - you just have to see it for yourself. Some nice extras on the DVD too about the making of the models and animations etc.